


Betrayer Heart

by helishdreams



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-14
Updated: 2013-01-14
Packaged: 2017-11-25 11:44:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/638550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helishdreams/pseuds/helishdreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will's having trouble coping. Short piece, set vaguely mid-season as Will learns how to be around Mackenzie again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Betrayer Heart

It shouldn’t be this difficult – working aside the woman who had ripped his heart forcibly from his chest. The pain Will remembers with visceral clarity but its now something he almost expects whenever she meets his eye across the crowded newsroom. What he doesn’t expect is the betrayal his mind feels at the unbidden actions of his body. The way his hand floats towards her back when she walks through doors in front of him, the way his knee leans onto hers under the table whenever she sits next to him, the way his mouth wants to quirk into a smile whenever he hears her name.

For the most part his mind pushes these instincts down into the trash-compactor of his brain, squashing and compressing them with cigarettes and raised voices.

But when he’s not paying attention the muscle memory of his heart dominates the cold rationality of his head and he finds himself touching the tassels of the scarf wrapped around her neck as it floats towards him in Manhattan’s icy wind. She can only look at him, and his hand, the betrayer, is removed and clenches into a fist at his side. Her mouth twitches into an uncertain smile as she stops mid-sentence.

But Mac’s never held onto uncertainty for long (it’s one of things he’s always lov-) and it vanishes as she tilts her head back in a bark of laugh. She’s still smiling and her small hand wraps itself around his clenched fist, holding it there for a moment and it’s then that his mind finally betrays him as well and he lets her.

 

Later he leans against the door to her office; he takes a long drag of his cigarette before she finally looks up at him. He lets out a deep breath, sending smoke in a cloud behind him.

‘Don’t think this means anything,’ is all he says. 

Mac says nothing in return, but stands and walks slowly around her desk toward him. He still hasn’t moved. She reaches him and touches a hand to his shoulder, inching slightly higher to press a soft kiss on his cheek.

Still inches from him, she whispers back, ‘Oh Billy, I never do,’ but her voice tinged with something that makes Will feel sick. He makes to lean down, follow her mouth, but she’s already halfway across the newsroom and he stubs the cigarette out on the wall beside him.

‘See you tomorrow.’ It’s a jumbled mess, thrown roughly in her direction but she waves a hand up in acknowledgement.

‘Not if I see you first.’


End file.
